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MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

Friday, March 29, 2024

Long live the Lakin name

With the firm's founder and namesake in federal prison for acts best described as unspeakable, it figured the Lakin Law Firm of Wood River was due for a name change.

Most law firms strive to project an aura of austere integrity, not drug-addled criminality.

But we're just nosy journalists, not marketing gurus. Firm chieftain Brad Lakin's the expert. And he knows best the kind of brand that appeals most to Lakin-grade clientele.

And now the biggest family name in local lawsuits lives to sue another day. The new firm name, LakinChapman, was unveiled to the Metro-East public last week, led by Lakin the Younger and former Illinois Appellate Court Judge Charles Chapman.

In a press release, Lakin outlined the new firm's "seven practice areas." Recruiting plaintiffs to help create class action lawsuits--Lakin's most prolific practice over the past few years-- didn't make the list.

Could Richard Burke be right? Ever since he was fired in early 2007, estranged ex-Lakin class action chief Burke has been assailing the firm's class action acumen. Burke said that without his services, and perhaps those of class action ace-turned-prison inmate Gary Peel, the Lakin Firm could no longer competently pursue the torrent of class action cases filed in Madison County.

To be so lucky.

It's a "brand-new firm with a new organization that reflects our growing national practice," Lakin explained.

To skeptics of plaintiff's lawyer statements, "national practice" is code for "we'll sue anywhere we can find a judge who will take us." In the past "anywhere" was code for here. For the Lakins, they now have set their lawsuit sights on Chicago, and a vague land called the "Southwest."

Watch out Phoenix and Las Vegas, and don't say we didn't warn you.

Thanks for the memories, Lakin Law Firm. We bid you a hearty farewell, or as former Lakin lawyer and French linguist wannabe Thomas Maag would put it, "adieu."

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